Fryshuset - A Force of Passion

Abstract

This article describes a remarkable and successful Stockholm-based social project, which emanated from one person´s dedication and strong belief in the power of human connection. He also believed in the importance of shared activities and the commitment of the adult generation to act as role models and fellow human beings for young people. The project started in 1984, supported by YMCA, under modest conditions in an old cold storage warehouse on the outskirts of Stockholm. It has now expanded to contain a multiplicity of activities all aimed to support and empower young people in difficult circumstances and opened branches in other cities and developed international connections. There has always been an emphasis on youth activities such as sport, rock bands and skate boarding but always in the context of human connection and fellowship. Many specific groups have formed for particular groups such as refugees or young women or they have been formed to prevent street violence or to support people who have left extreme movements such as neo-Nazism and criminal gangs. The project a journied through some difficult phases but it has, in a unique way, used the so-often overlooked positive power of groups to give young people opportunities for change